


Paparazzi

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Flash Fic, M/M, Post-Game, media attention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 13:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15797310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: Gladio had only wanted Ignis to forget the stresses of the Presidential race for one night.Gladnis Week 2018: Day 7: Media Attention





	Paparazzi

Gladio awoke to the sound of a text notification from his phone. It trilled, and vibrated on the nightstand, and then fell silent again. The noise dragged Gladio from the clutches of sleep, and he rolled over, buried his face in his pillows, and tried to ignore it.

It trilled again a moment later, and the sound seemed so much more insistent this time. Gladio groaned, and hugged his pillow.

“You should check it,” Ignis said, sounding way more awake than he had any right to. Gladio grumbled wordlessly in reply, but when Ignis's hand found his arm he huffed in surrender.

Ignis was lay on his side, eyes closed and the brutal scar left by the Lucii's favour open to the room. The other side of his face was swallowed by the soft pillow, and his hair spilled across the cotton. He was beautiful, even at this hour of the day. Time was putting the first flashes of white into his sandy hair, but aside from that he could still pass for his younger self.

Not like Gladio, whose frown lines and crow's feet had given him a start one morning when he'd put his council robes on and looked up to find his father looking back at him. Iris looked more and more like their mom every day, and Gladio had his father's face, and his mother's eyes.

He placed a large hand over Iggy's cheek, stroking the line of his cheekbone with his thumb, and leaned in to take the first kiss of the morning. Ignis lifted his head from the pillow, meeting Gladio's lips chastely, a morning routine that was an indispensable part of the day for them both.

Ignis rolled onto his back as Gladio turned away, retrieving his phone. The mattress creaked and the sheets shifted, tangling around Iggy's legs as he moved. Gladio grunted as he read the messages, both of them from Prompto.

“What is it?” Ignis asked, pushing himself to sit up against the pillows.

“You're not gonna like it,” Gladio warned.

“All the more reason to tell me what it is.”

Gladio frowned at his phone, and clicked the link that consisted of Prompto's second message. It opened a page on a news site, not that you could call the contents news. It was all gossip. “Someone followed us last night,” he said, scrolling down the page. “They took a lot of pictures.”

Ignis's hand came up to touch where his glasses would sit on the bridge of his nose, if he was wearing them. It was one of those thoughtless behaviours, done out of habit, and it always meant Iggy's mind was racing with an action plan. “I knew that would happen,” he muttered, and Gladio heard the frustrated despair in his voice like someone was stabbing him in the gut with it.

“I'm sorry, Iggy,” he said, lingering over a picture of himself and Ignis in the hotel doorway, firmly in liplock. Iggy looked so relaxed in his arms in that picture, one hand gripping tightly to the back of Gladio's shirt, his neck arched back to let Gladio in. It was a good picture, but it was also a private moment between them that was now splashed across every newspage and gossip site in Lucis.

“I'll have to prepare a statement,” he muttered. That hand went up from the bridge of his nose into his hair, scraping the strands back off his face. They'd made love in this bed last night, it had been a safe haven for them both, away from the pressure of the presidential race, and the campaign trail, and the rebuilding. Now Gladio felt guilty about being in it with Ignis, and all for the sake of wanting Ignis to push the politics aside for a night and enjoy an evening.

“What are you gonna say?” he asked.

Ignis's hand dropped back to the sheets, and Gladio watched his shoulders droop. “That we've all lost so much that we deserve to keep those we love close, and that I intend to push Lucis towards a future where we can do precisely that.” He turned towards Gladio, and stretched his hand out, palm up, against the bedsheets. “And if anyone doubts my commitment or ability to lead this country based upon the gender of the person I love, then I will prove them wrong.”

Gladio reached down and clasped Iggy's hand in his own, lacing their fingers together. Ignis's hands closed around his, and Gladio squeezed before he lifted it up, and brought the back of it to his own lips. “That's my Iggy,” he said.


End file.
